Silencers for fluid systems



United StatesPatcnt O SILENCERS FOR FLUID SYSTEMS Nathan Marcus and George Marcus, Union City, N. .1.

Application April 24, 1952, Serial No. 284,028

1 Claim. (Cl. 138-46) This invention relates to silencers or pressure cushions for fluid systems such as water, oil, gasoline, or air systems subject to pressure changes upon opening and closing of valves in the system, to prevent hammer knocking. Such hammer knocking is caused by sudden closing of a valve or faucet which can create high pressures which surge back and forth through the fiuid system until normal pressure is obtained. A continual impact of such extensive pressure on the fluid system is dangerous and can be remedied by installation in the system of a silencer embodying the present invention. The same should be located as close as possible to the valve that hammers, or the silencer may be placed at the bottom of a riser. The silencer may be placed on both, hot and cold water lines. Where a tankless heater is used, the silencer should be placed on the hot water line extending from the hot water heater.

An object of the present invention is to provide a highly improved silencer or pressure cushion which comprises a common chamber or reservoir connected to a fluid line, and a plurality of nesting, resilient, helically coiled water tubes connected to the common chamber. Such construction makes for less surging of the water to the tubes by reason of the fact that a number of tubes are connected to a single reservoir. The tubes whih-extend from the single chamber are coiled in concentric cylindrical shape, and their upper ends are sealed.) Air is trapped in the top of the tubing. A'cushion e'tfect is obtained by reason of the air within the tubes and also because the tubes expand and give, like a coil .spring. The tubes are nested one within the other to give relatively large cubical contents within a compact space.

A casing is fixed to the single chamber and encloses the tubes so that if there is a break in one or more tubes, the casing will prevent the water from hurting anyone. Furthermore, the casing guides the tubes and limits the expansion of the tubes. The casing will prevent scalding in case of a break in the tube. Also the casing, by limiting theexpansion of the tubes, limits the strain on the tubes which hence last longer. Furthermore, the casing prevents side sway of the tubes. Preferably there is a clearance between each coil and the coil telescoped therein. Furthermore, there will preferably be some clearance between the outer coils and the inside of the casing. Each coil should comprise a plurality of tubes which are coiled together at one diameter.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a strong and durable device of the character described, which shall be relatively inexpensive to manufacture and yet practical and efficient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the features of construction, combinations of elements, and arrange.- ment of parts, which will be exemplified in'the construction hereinafter described, and of which the scope of invention will be indicated inthe following claim.

as to seal the upper ends of the tubes.

In the accompanying drawings in which is shown various illustrative embodiments of this invention:

Fig. 1 is a front elc'v'ational view of a silencer embodying the invention connected to a water line, and with parts broken away and in cross section;

' casting or member 11 comprises a relatively thick flat horizontal annular top wall 12 from which there extends downwardly a frusto-conical wall 13. Extending downwardly therefrom is a neck 14. The neck '14 may have an outer hexagonal surface 15. It is also formed with an internal screw thread 16. A nipple 17 may be screwed to the opening 16. Said nipple 17 may be screwed to the center arm 18 to a T connection 19 interposed in a waterline 20.

The top wall 12 is formed with a plurality of equiangularlyspaced sets of vertical drilled openings 21, substantially equally spaced from the axis of said top wall.

It will be noted that for the purpose of illustration, the drawing shows four pairs of openings 21. Any suitable number of openings may be employed. For the purpose of illustration there is shown two openings in each set and four sets of openings.

Insterted into one pair of openings 21 are the lower ends 22 of resilient, copper tubes 23. The tubes 23 are helically wound together in a common cylinder, and extend upwardly axially of the chamber 11. Obviously one tube 23 is above the otherbut they are wound together-in a'comm'on cylinder. The lower ends of the tubes are force fitted into the openings 21 and are braised or soldered to the top wall. The upper ends 23a of the tubes 23 are flattened and folded over and soldered so The sets of openings 21are spaced apart in the form shown in the drawing. Preferably the-sets are equiangularly spaced-apart no matter how many sets are used.

Extending from another pair of openings 21 are the lower ends 24 of a pair of copper tubes 25 coiled together to form a'tubular cylinder surrounding the inner coil of tubes 23. The upper end of the tubes 25 are also sealed.

, Extending into the next pair of openings 21 are the lower ends 26 of a pair of copper tubes 27 coiled together toform a tubular cylinder surrounding the cylindrical tube 25.

Extending into the fourth pair of openings 21 are the lower ends 29 of copper tubes 30, likewise wound helically into a cylinder and surrounding the tubes 27. The upper ends of all the tubes are sealed in the manner shown in Fig. 5 of the drawing.

Enclosing all the tubes is a casing 40. Casing 40 comprises a cylindrical member41 of brass or steel, the lower end of which fits over the peripheral edge of top wall 12 of chamber 11. The lower end of the cylinder 41 may be fixed to the casting 11 in any suitable manner. A rounded or dome'shapedtop wall 42 is attached to the upper end of the cylinder 40 in any suitable manner. The casing is fully sealed. It will be noted that the upper ends of the tubes are disposed somewhat below the top wall 42. When pressure increases in water line i 20, the pressure will increase within the tubes, causing air trapped at the top of the tubes to act as a cushion. Also the tubes will expand due to their resiliency further cushioning and preventing hammer or knockingnoises.

The tubes being disposed one within the other give relatively large cubical contents within a compact space. If a tube should break, the casing will protect people nearby. Furthermore, the casing guards the tubes and limits the expansion of the tubes and prevents side sway of the tubes. Only about one inch room at the top of the casing is necessary for expansion of the tubes. Preferably there is a clearance between the outer coils and the inside of the casing. The expansion of the tubes may be inch to an inch. The casing holds expansion to a limit so that the tubular coils will last longer and because of this they are less likely to break. With the present construction using a plurality of tubular cylinders one within the other, one installation may be suificient where otherwise a number of installations would be necessary. Furthermore, by having a plurality of tubes in each tubular cylinder, at greater efficiency results. It is furthermore pointed out that since all the tubes are connected on a single chamber, there is less surging of water in the tubes.

It will thus be seen that there is provided a device in which the several objects of this invention are achieved and which is well adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention, and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having thus described our invention we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

A fiuid silencer comprising a chamber having a top flat annular wall and an inwardly tapering conical wall extending downwardly from said top wall, and a neck extending downwardly from the lower end of the conical wall, said top wall being formed with a plurality of sets of openings, said sets of openings being equally spaced from the center of the top wall, a plurality of sets of coil tubes of resilient metal, there being a plurality of said coil tubes in each set, the coil tubes in each set being helically wound in a common cylinder and having their lower ends fitted in one set of openings, all of said tubes having their upper ends sealed, a casing enclosing said tubes comprising a cylindrical member having its lower end fixed to the periphery of the top wall of the chamber, and a top cover fixed to the upper end of the cylindrical wall and spaced above the upper end of said tubes, the various sets of tubes forming cylinders of different diameters telescoping one within the other.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,038,931 Michaelson Sept. 17, 1912 1,622,843 Price et al Mar. 29, 1927 1,958,009 McKee -May 8, 1934 2,407,276 Hendel et a1 Sept. 10, 1946 FOREIGN PATENTS 12,501 Great Britain Feb. 1, 1895 44,492 France Feb. 2, 1935 

